tv Verified Live BBC News January 8, 2025 5:00pm-5:31pm GMT
5:00 pm
live from london, this is bbc news. two people have been killed and others seriously injured as wildfires rage out of control in los angeles. evacuation orders are in place — 30,000 people are told to leave their homes. la's fire chief says teams are being stretched to their limits. it is significantly worse in this area. smoke is a lot thicker, a lot darker. you see so many embers. we see engines just shooting down this way and it's because of this.
5:01 pm
who will also get the latest from officials who who will also get the have been briefing the media. authorities in ukraine say 13 people have been killed by a russian attack on the city of zaporizhzhia. france's foreign minister hits back against donald trump — who's refused to rule out using military or economic force to take control of greenland. hello, i'm matthew amroliwala. up up to 75 mph and the authorities described it as a tragedy for the city of los
5:02 pm
angeles and it's something they've never seen before. the state of emergency is in force with the fire spreading at spreading at speed and people having to abandon their houses and cars to escape from the flames. fire chief anthony marrone gave an update on the palisades and eaton fires he started by confirmong that the palisades fire is growing we have well over 5000 acres that have burned and the fire is growing. we have no percentage of containment. we have an estimated 1000 structures destroyed, and also no reported fatalities and a high number of significant injuries to residents who did not evacuate. in addition to first responders who were on the fire line
5:03 pm
for the eaton fire, it is located in both the angeles national forest, the altadena area of la county, and pasadena. la county is in unified command with both the angeles national forest and the pasadena fire department. we have over 2000 acres burning at this time, and the fire continues to grow with 0% containment. we have over 500 personnel assigned and unfortunately, we have two reported fatalities to civilians. unknown cause at this time. and we do have a number of significant injuries. we have over 100 structures destroyed. and the cause of the fire is unknown and under investigation. lastly, the national weather service has predicted a continued red flag weather event with strong winds and low humidities. placing all residents of los angeles county in danger.
5:04 pm
to all of our viewers, please prioritise your safety as well as the well—being of those around you as we come together to continue to get through this widespread disaster. los angeles county firefighters will remain on the front line until we reach full containment. at a press conference earlier today, fire chief kristin crowley explains the sheer amount of things that the fire the area where there are no fires but we can see the huge plumes of black smoke and the police chief in the fire chief sing high numbers of significant injuries to people who did not evacuate those key areas and they have also been saying that services are being stretched to their limits in the
5:05 pm
today, fire chief kristin crowley explains the sheer amount of things that the fire services in los angeles are dealing with. together, these fires are stretching the capacity of emergency services to their maximum limits. the los angeles fire department is battling these two major fires while maintaining, and i want to focus on this, 911 services for the cities approximate 4 million residents. despite the severity of the conditions, our department remains fully committed to safeguarding lives and property. a month, telling the viewers what is happened all around you. what is happened all around ou. ~ , ., ., you. we been driving along the pacific coast _ you. we been driving along the pacific coast highway - you. we been driving along the pacific coast highway along - you. we been driving along thej pacific coast highway along the coast of la and palisades for one of the biggest fires is
5:06 pm
rigid up the hillside behind us and sing the destruction of the coastline, losing power lines down, scorched hillsides and it is like a ghost town, it's a very busy road people travelling up and down to spend a day at the beach, cars with surfboards on the roofs but it couldn't look any more different today and emergency service vehicles are the only ones were single and up and down and many have been evacuated from and it's like a ghost town and could probably see that the air is so thick with smoke we can barely see a few metres in front of us and even with this protective gear on, it is stinging my eyes and you could smell and taste the smoke all around and there's still burning embers from the fire and i do not know if you can see it it's still fire is burning on the hillsidejust behind us but we are in a pretty safe location and the oceanis pretty safe location and the ocean is just a few metres that way.
5:07 pm
a high number of significant injuries to people who did not evacuate the areas that they were told to leave. in terms of those evacuations, take me through what you've seen. well, as ou through what you've seen. well, as you can _ through what you've seen. well, as you can imagine, _ through what you've seen. well, as you can imagine, tens - through what you've seen. well, as you can imagine, tens of- as you can imagine, tens of thousands of people were given these evacuation orders. as soon as we got into the evacuation zone, all of our phones started beeping without evacuation warning, so everybody presumably with phones it would have got that alert as soon as you get anywhere near a danger zone. but look, california residents are used to wildfires. these happen, have been happening more frequently over the winter. when there are strong winds, people know it's a risk and they are always people who do decide to wait it out a little bit longer. sometimes because they are protecting pets, sometimes because they feel they are not quite in the danger zone, some people try to douse their houses down with water, but we've heard from
5:08 pm
emergency services that there have been a high number of injuries this time from people who did not evacuate for various regions. but that has led to injuries although thousands and thousands of other people of course did leave and we saw those dramatic scenes yesterday of people at first leaving by car, then on foot and abandoning vehicles that then had to be bulldozed out of the way. but when you're in the thick of it like this, it is very difficult to tell where the fire is coming from. there is limited signal to get any messages.— there is limited signal to get any messages. and we can see behind you, _ any messages. and we can see behind you, the _ any messages. and we can see behind you, the wind _ any messages. and we can see behind you, the wind whipping | behind you, the wind whipping up behind you, the wind whipping up and that is one of the things that they are really battling with because these are wins once in a decade they've been describing them as. and i suppose what was most concerning and that news conference, despite all their efforts overnight, they say there is zero containment in terms of any of these major fires. terms of any of these ma'or fires. . . �* , terms of any of these ma'or
5:09 pm
fires. . ., �* , ., fires. yeah, that's right. zero containment, _ fires. yeah, that's right. zero containment, and _ fires. yeah, that's right. zero containment, and usually - fires. yeah, that's right. zero i containment, and usually when you watch wildfires at this time of year, you here within a few hours or in a day or so that they've got it under some degree of control, but they are of that battling so many fires on so many fronts, the emergency services are really tested to their limits. i've never felt winds as strong as this all the time i've been in los angeles come the winds were howling last night. the palm trees were bending coming almost out they were going to crash down around you. so you can only imagine what that does to a wildfire, it literally was fanning the flames. it's been a comparatively dry winter here in los angeles, very little rain through november and december which means the hillsides — and of course, this is a city surrounded by mountains, surrounded by hills — havejust mountains, surrounded by hills — have just been mountains, surrounded by hills — havejust been really mountains, surrounded by hills — have just been really dried out. it's like kindling up there when you go hiking, underfoot. incredibly dry, and the risk of a tiny spark setting off a fire is ever
5:10 pm
present, and that is what's happened. present, and that is what's happened-— present, and that is what's hauened. ~ �* , , happened. we've been listening to the news _ happened. we've been listening to the news conference, - to the news conference, different officials giving us an update about different areas, when you taught up the figures, just the latest now the two dead that we knew about but that figure that is now on the screen, emma, you won't see it but let me tell viewers, 70,000 people now under evacuation orders across los angeles and the wider areas. so that number has increased markedly in the last few minutes when you total it all up. but tell me a little bit more about the amount of firefighters they have trying to battle this, and just how stretch they are and whether they need others to come from other areas. they need others to come from other arm-— other areas. just on those evacuations, _ other areas. just on those evacuations, yeah, - other areas. just on those evacuations, yeah, we - other areas. just on those i evacuations, yeah, we were driving from the hollywood area down to the coast and as we were driving, our producer and other friends were driving, our producer and otherfriends were were driving, our producer and other friends were getting calls that their homes, back where we came from were being evacuated, so almost driving out of one area of danger into
5:11 pm
another, and many people really don't know where to turn. now, there have been thousands of firefighters mobilised to try and deal with this, and of course the emergency services are having to prioritise it with five or so different fires raging in different places, it means they are stretched so much more to the limits. normally they would be able to pool all their resources into one really bad fire, here they are having to make critical decisions about who to send where and there is certain limited moments they can get help from the air, drop fire retardant and liquid onto the flames to try and get them under control, too. those words, zero containment, are pretty scary to hear after 2a hours of this going on. it’s hours of this going on. it's really interesting, emma, because as we can see behind you we can see the wind whipping out even through the course of this interview it's getting worse behind you, not better. whom in terms of other
5:12 pm
details, though, we werejust hearing people being urged to conserve water, there are power lines that are down, all sorts of consequences that people are having to deal with.— having to deal with. that's ri . ht. having to deal with. that's riuht. i having to deal with. that's right. i mean, _ having to deal with. that's right. i mean, where - having to deal with. that's right. i mean, where we i having to deal with. that's i right. i mean, where we were having to deal with. that's - right. i mean, where we were in hollywood last night, we weren't in danger for the time being, but we had no power, we had no internet connection, so very difficult to communicate as a reporter, but also to checkin as a reporter, but also to check in with your friends and other people who live closer to where the danger zones are. up in the hills. so communication is very difficult. now, as i say, the emergency warning that has been setting our phones off, clearly overrides all of that so you can get these emergency alerts. but it does mean there is a lot of confusion, people don't know where family members are or which centres people have gone to, when they have been evacuated. 0r what's become of their homes that they left behind, so a lot of uncertainty. just driving to the city, we were driving
5:13 pm
towards the fire, a lot of people were driving away from it. it really felt like the apocalypse. it was the only word that i could use to describe it. the normal blue sky, blacked out by smoke. the orange glow at different sides of the city, it was like a scene out of a hollywood movie. and you know, hollywood superstars who acted these movies are the ones now kind of experiencing the nightmare, they've been having to leave their homes behind just like their homes behind just like the thousands of ordinary people being evacuated, too. people being evacua
0 Views
1 Favorite
IN COLLECTIONS
BBC News Television Archive Television Archive News Search ServiceUploaded by TV Archive on